Tech startup Arrive recruits former Carmel mayor, Elevance CFO

An Indianapolis-based startup that has developed a smart mailbox has added two prominent names to its team.

Arrive AI said Monday that former Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard has been brought on as a consultant focused on municipal development. And John Gallina, former chief financial officer for Indianapolis-based Elevance Health, has joined the company’s board of directors.

“We are elated to have both of these impressive leaders join our team,” Arrive AI CEO Dan O’Toole said in a media release. “As we continue to work toward scaling our products, developing our platform and entering the public company arena, their insights and connections will be invaluable.”

Arrive was founded in 2019 and has developed a climate-controlled, secure, smart mailbox for deliveries made by drones, couriers or robots. The mailbox could be used to keep food deliveries and medicines under temperature control and also lock packages in place until the owner retrieves them.

Beginning in 1996, Brainard served seven terms as Carmel’s mayor. In 2023, he declined to seek reelection.

O’Toole said that the mailboxes create ancillary benefits for municipalities by providing emergency responders with a “beacon to find those in need of fire, police or medical help.”

He said support from government leaders like Brainard could help drive installation of Arrive units in commercial areas, as well as residential.

“Arrive AI has a transformative platform that I think mayors across America will want to see in their communities,” Brainard said in the release. “I’m looking forward to introducing them to it.”

Gallina served as CFO and executive vice president of Elevance Health from 2016 to 2023, and as special advisor to the CEO until his retirement earlier this year. In his new role at Arrive, he will chair the board’s audit committee.

O’Toole said Arrive’s smart mailboxes could help health care organizations improve safety, reduce risk of contamination and increase efficient deliveries on hospital campuses, both for pharmacy deliveries and between medical facilities.

Both Gallina and Brainard began working with Arrive AI on Aug. 1.

O’Toole said attracting world-class leadership is paramount for the company as it looks to enter the public market via the Nasdaq.

Last December, Arrive announced plans to go public via a merger with Canada-based Brüush Oral Care Inc. However, just last month, the IBJ reported those plans were off after Brüush was suspended from the Nasdaq Stock Market for failure to comply with Nasdaq’s qualifications for listing.